Windows Server 2012 R2 includes a new version of the PowerShell scripting language, PowerShell 4.0. One of the most interesting new features in PowerShell 4.0 is Desired State Configuration (DSC). DSC is a declarative management system inside Windows PowerShell 4.0 that enables servers to self-provision themselves during initial deployment and also self-remediate their configuration if it should fall out of compliance with their assigned “desired state”.

DO IT: Click HERE to read this Step-by-Step introduction if you missed it …

In this article, I’ll provide an introduction to a new PowerShell DSC Resource Kit that has recently been released with support for 14 new DSC resources …

What’s new in DSC?

Since my original DSC article, our PowerShell team has been busy at-work with extending the available resources that can be leveraged with Desired State Configuration past the original core set of resources. Recently, the team released an updated PowerShell DSC Resource Kit that includes 14 additional resource modules for using DSC to easily configure and interact with:

You’ll also need a running instance of Windows Server 2012 R2 to try out all the new resources in your lab – and, we provide a couple options that make it super-easy to get this up and running quickly in your lab …